


When did Padme Come to Coruscant? Why Does it Matter?

by WingletBlackbird



Series: Anakin and Padme's Relationship [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Archived From Tumblr, F/M, Meta, Meta Essay, Nonfiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-27
Updated: 2019-11-27
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:20:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21577477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WingletBlackbird/pseuds/WingletBlackbird
Summary: Why Anakin and Padme likely should have encountered each other between TPM and AotC.
Relationships: Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker
Series: Anakin and Padme's Relationship [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1555018
Comments: 3
Kudos: 25





	When did Padme Come to Coruscant? Why Does it Matter?

**Author's Note:**

> Altered slightly when posting to A03.

The only thing we know, in canon, is what Padme tells us, and that is limited to two throwaway lines. The first is that she hasn’t “worked for over a year” against the Military Creation Act not to be there “when its fate is decided.” The second is that, after her second term as Queen, she was asked to become a Senator and that she “couldn’t refuse.” In that case, it shouldn’t be too hard to figure out. Padme had just been elected in Phantom Menace and she served two terms as Queen. Find out how long those terms were, and we’ll have an estimate, right?

Well, according to Legends, the length of the terms was four years each. What is not elaborated on is if that is Nabooan years or standard years. If it is Nabooan years than that would be 312 times 8 which equals 2,496 days. Divide that by 368, to get a standard year, and you have 6.8 years..so basically 7. Now if those are standard years already, that’s 8 years. Either way, it fits the “worked for over a year quote.” By the time Attack of the Clones comes around, she’s been on Coruscant for two to three standard years.

If this is true, however, she has been on the same planet as Anakin for the better part of three years. Moreover, he would certainly have been aware of it. There’s no way that Padme, the former Queen Amidala, whose last arrival in Coruscant 7-8 years previous had caused such an upheaval, was not talked about or splashed all over the HoloNet. Even if it wasn’t though, Anakin had frequent meetings with Palpatine and I would have been shocked if Palpatine hadn’t mentioned it in a sly manner. The point is, one way or another, Anakin knew for _2-3 yea_ rs, that Padme was on Coruscant and very close by. However, if Attack of the Clones were true…he never dropped by to see her. Ever. Why?

This makes no sense to me. I suppose Anakin could have had a deployment that lasted a couple of years…maybe. If that were true though, then Mace Windu wouldn’t be saying that “they’ve just got back from a border dispute on Ansion.” That’s an everyday sort of mission. They’re clearly stationed on Coruscant. Of course, Padme has been gone for a couple of months to confer with her constituents over the vote, but that wouldn’t have been more than a month or two. Did they just miss each other? No, that just doesn’t sit right, Anakin might have been kept away for a year or so from Coruscant after Padme arrived, but he was stationed on Coruscant and living there for at least a year before AotC. A deployment wouldn’t likely have lasted more than two years, at the very most, and Padme has been on Coruscant for three. (Since it makes no sense that the terms would be in standard years rather than Nabooan ones, so 10-7=3.) They must have had a few months that over-lapped at the very, very least. Yet Anakin says. “I haven’t seen her in ten years, Master.”

I struggle to believe that. Therefore, here is my headcanon:

Anakin hears about Padme’s arrival on Coruscant and is overwhelmed by the thought of it. She’s been faraway for so long, and now she seems so close, even if she’s still so out of reach. What should he do? Does she remember him? How should he approach her? He decides to settle on the simple and goes to visit Palpatine. While he’s there, he drops Padme’s name into the conversation, and, not for the first time, Palpatine picks up on this and comments on how very busy the new Senator is, but it just so happens that he’s meeting her in two days to welcome her. He just can’t wait to meet his old prodigy and queen. He waxes poetic for awhile and Anakin takes it all in. On Palpatine’s end, it’s bait to get Anakin frustrated at the Jedi Order and with the Jedi Code because of his desire for Padme. For Anakin, of course, this is his big chance. He’s eighteen/nineteen now, a grown man, she can’t tell him he’s too young. He’s young, but he’s legal.

Anakin goes to visit Palpatine shortly before Padme’s scheduled appointment. He plans it so that he can walk out and show her how _cool_ he is, look at him all friendly with the chancellor, and “Oh! Hey, Padme, what a coincidence! Fancy seeing you here! How are you doing?” The “we haven’t seen each other in so long” meeting happens like in AotC, and, before she dashes away to her meeting, he wrangles an invitation from her to “drop by sometime and catch up.”

This leads to a few month long, intense, best-friendship which is terminated by Padme, because the chemistry between them became impossible to ignore. Anakin tells her they have four choices ahead of them. 1. He leaves the Order for her. 2. He doesn’t leave the Order and they keep it a secret. 3. They stay friends. 4. They never see each other again. Padme chooses option four. Anakin is devastated but abides by her wishes. She does not tell him that she only chose that option because she cannot see how they could ever be “just friends.”

So, a year passes, and Anakin is heart-broken, but trying to get on with it, and Padme is throwing herself into her work more than ever much to her family and friends’ dismay. She has next to no social life because she’s just. not. interested. It seems terribly wrong somehow to even entertain the thought of being with anyone other than Anakin. If he must sacrifice for the Republic, than so must she. Then, the assassination attempt happens, and Palpatine thinks this is a great chance to twist the knife in Anakin’s heart so he devises a means of placing them together. Of course, Skywalker should be assigned to protect you!

This is another reason why Padme protests. Surely, if they’ve just gotten back from Ansion, they need their rest. She’s honestly not sure she can take seeing Anakin again. This is also why Anakin’s so nervous in the elevator. He hasn’t seen her in a year and he has no idea how this will end after the way they parted. It wasn’t his idea to be assigned to her, although he can’t quite bring himself to be upset by it, but what if she blames him? Palpatine is his friend after all. What if she thinks he orchestrated it?

Then, you get the standard Attack of the Clones story with the added background to the relationship and extra drama/tension. You also get a wedding that makes more sense because Padme and Anakin have known each other for longer than three days, thank you, and Padme just couldn’t watch him walk away twice, especially to war.

The End.


End file.
